Summer Tour met Summer festival circuit this afternoon as Steve visited BoomTown Fair. It is a music and arts festival held on the stunning Matterley Estate near Winchester each Summer. The event, now in its fifth year, will welcome some 60,000 people from 11-14 August 2016.
Winchester MP Steve Brine, himself a regular festival-goer, was an early supporter of the event and dropped into site on Thursday 4th August - as week before it opens to the public - to see how it's coming together.
He was shown around by farm owner, Perverill Bruce, who has seen his vision of the site hosting a major festival come to life. While on-site, Steve met with some of the key people involved in putting on the festival including Lak Mitchell who is co-creator of Boomtown and its Creative Director.
There is also a growing charity - and campaigning side - to Boomtown. On the festival website it says; "Since finding our true home at the Matterley Estate in 2011 we have aimed to give back to local community projects in and around the festival site as much as possible. In the years since we've been located at Matterley we have raised approximately £170,000 for charities, with nearly £30,000 of this going directly back into projects and organisations from around the Winchester area."
Watch the latest Boomtown video - Behind the Barricades
Steve Brine adds; "I have been brought up attending festivals so was keen to get to know the Boomtown team from day one and stay in touch with what is now a major festival on the Summer circuit.
"I am so impressed with how Boomtown has grown and the way it has done so in harmony with the stunning landscape provided by Matterley Estate. Peverill and his family are rightly proud of what they've acheived here and I think Winchester should be really proud of this festival on its doorstep as should the South Downs National Park because Boomtown is bringing a whole new audience to the park.
"The growing political and charitable side to the festival is also great to see and the organisers should be praised for the way they've woven that into the Boomtown story."
Steve and his family will be attending the event at some point next week.
Pictured; Farm owner Peverill Bruce, Lak Mitchell of Boomtown and Steve Brine on-site during the build.
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